CSUEB Hayward Campus back to normal operations following gas line break

• January 17, 2014 2:30pm

Operations on Cal State East Bay’s Hayward Campus have returned to normal following the repair of a broken gas line Friday (Jan. 17) on the Warren Hall replacement building construction site adjacent to the Student Administration (SA) building.

A construction site worker accidentally severed the gas line at approximately noon. As a precaution, all students and university employees were evacuated from the Valley Business and Technology (VBT) Center, SA building, A&E building, and North Science building.

Once workers from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) had made the necessary repairs and Hayward Fire Department personnel gave the “all-clear” signal, students and employees were allowed to reoccupy the buildings and return to normal activities at about 12:50 p.m.

“The affected gas line serves the VBT, Student Administration, and Arts & Education buildings,” said Jim Zavagno, associate vice president for Facilities Development and Operations. As such, these three buildings will not have hot water and building heat. In addition, the kilns in the Arts & Education building will not function.

“We are working on getting the gas line repaired, but at this time we do not know when the repair will be completed. We will keep the campus community updated as repair work progresses,” Zavagno noted.

There were no injuries. However, as a precaution, one unidentified person was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital for observation.

-- Barry Zepel and Jeff Bliss